Abortion

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- As Congress remains embroiled in a massive debate over whether to force Americans to pay for abortions through the new government-run health care programs, a new CNN poll finds 61 percent oppose government funding abortions with public dollars.

The poll found six in ten Americans favor a ban on using federal funds for abortions, such as the Stupak amendment recently added to the health care bill in the House.

The new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released today shows 61 percent oppose taxpayer funding of abortions while just 37 percent are supportive...

CAMDEN, N.J. - A New Jersey high school student claims in a federal lawsuit that administrators violated her religious and free-speech rights by prohibiting her participation in a silent abortion protest.

The girl, identified in court papers as C.H., says she asked Bridgeton High School's principal last month for permission to join in the Pro Life Day of Silent Solidarity on Oct. 20.

She planned to remain silent, except when called on in class. She also wanted to wear an armband with the word "life" on it and distribute anti-abortion pamphlets...

National Right to Life is warning that pro-abortion Democrats will fight tooth and nail to get a prohibition on federal funding of abortion ultimately removed from their healthcare bill.

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida), the Democrats' chief deputy whip in the House, said yesterday that she and other pro-abortion lawmakers would work to strip the Stupak amendment included in the House health bill that bars federal funding of abortions under the public health insurance option.

Wasserman Schultz told MSNBC, "I am confident that when it comes back from the conference committee that the language won't be there"...

The sudden spasm of intense debate over abortion on Capitol Hill this week threatens not only to stall the passage of health care legislation, but also to shatter the delicate cease-fire that has governed the abortion issue during the Obama era.

After months of dodging high-profile confrontations over abortion, Democrats — including President Barack Obama — find themselves faced with a stark set of alternatives: Support a bill that imposes limits on access to abortion or demand one that might, however indirectly, fund the procedure with taxpayer money.

It's the kind of decision point the White House and Democratic leaders have consistently attempted to avoid. By playing down divisions over abortion and emphasizing shared goals — such as reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in the United States — members of the president's party have sought to blur the lines of one of the country's most furious and enduring debates...

Abby Johnson, former director of a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Bryan, Texas, resigned after seeing a sonogram of a baby as it was being aborted. Johnson converted from "pro-choice" to pro-life on the basis of her faith, and she began offering her testimony nationwide.

After quitting her job at Planned Parenthood, the organization filed suit against Johnson to block her from revealing any confidential information through copies of documents she allegedly made. Steven H. Aden of Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) took the case to court, where the ruling fell in Johnson's favor.

"Planned Parenthood got its temporary restraining order against Abby Johnson thrown out because the judge said they had no evidence that this former director of Planned Parenthood's College Station clinic had absconded with any confidential information regarding its employees or patients," the attorney reports...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In an interview on Monday, President Barack Obama refused to support an amendment in the health care bill that would ban taxpayer funding of abortions. Obama said he didn't want to change the "status quo" on abortion and added there is "more work to do" on the bill.

"I laid out a very simple principle, which is this is a health care bill, not an abortion bill," Obama told ABC News. "And we're not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions."

Obama appeared to side with abortion advocates who claim the Stupak amendment in the health care bill somehow changes the current status quo on government abortion funding -- which, under the Hyde amendment and other pro-life provisions is mostly banned...

A Christian student government president in California faces recall for allowing a pro-life display on campus.

Sacramento City College recently celebrated Constitution Day, an annual celebration of the U.S. Constitution and free speech. The Genocide Awareness Project (GAP), a pro-life organization, requested and was granted a display space at the event. Steve Macias, 19-year-old Associated Student Government president, and Monica Guzman, student affairs commissioner, now risk losing their positions for refusing to kick the pro-life group off campus.

Macias explains the GAP had given a proposal a week prior to being granted the space. The governing body voted unanimously to allow GAP to have a presence on campus. Two days into the event, several pro-abortion groups began protesting the GAP display. That same day, the administration pulled Macias out of class and told him to force GAP to remove its display and leave campus.  read more »

(CNSNews.com) - Even though President Obama repeatedly has said that the health care bill will not allow federal funding of abortion, White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs failed three times on Monday to answer reporters’ questions about whether the president supports an amendment to the bill (an amendment approved by the House on Saturday) that would prohibit federal funds from going to health insurance plans that pay for abortions.

The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Bart Stupak (D.-Mich.), specifically applies the language of the longstanding Hyde Amendment to the programs that would be created by the health care bill.

The amendment simply says no federal funds can pay for any part of any health insurance plan that covers abortion...

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Democrats are hardening their stances on both sides of the abortion issue in a battle that may threaten plans to overhaul the U.S. health-care system.

More than 40 party lawmakers vowed to vote against a final bill if it contains language the House agreed to on Nov. 7 adding restrictions on the procedure as part of broader health legislation. The issue may also disrupt work in the Senate, which has yet to unveil a bill.

Abortion “is going to be a major issue,” Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, told reporters yesterday. “I hope we can find a way around it”...

WASHINGTON – Abortion opponents in the Senate want tough restrictions in the health care overhaul bill, similar to the limits passed by the House this past weekend.

The issue could roil an already shaky Democratic effort to pass a health care bill by year's end for President Barack Obama.

Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska said Monday it's highly unlikely he would support a bill that doesn't clearly prohibit federal dollars from going to pay for abortions...